Young People At Risk For STDs Often Don’t Get Tested: Study

Although they account for half of all new sexually transmitted infections, most young people between the ages of 15 and 25 have never been tested for those infections, according to a study published in the May issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health.

The 2013 survey of 3,953 adolescents and young adults by researchers at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 11.5 percent had been tested for a sexually transmitted infection in the previous year, including 17 percent of females and 6 percent of males.

Overall, young people between 15 and 25 make up a quarter of the population who are sexually experienced. But the survey found that nearly half — 42 percent — of those who had sex and had not been tested for disease thought they were not at risk.

Researchers didn’t ask the young people why they believed they weren’t at risk. But “misunderstanding of risk and lack of access to care” are recognized barriers to testing, said Kendra Cuffe, a health scientist in the Division of STD Prevention at the CDC and the study’s lead author. (STD, which stands for “sexually transmitted disease,” is often used interchangeably with sexually transmitted infection.) Young people also cited worries about the confidentiality of testing and the cost.

Young people may be concerned about who has access to their private health information. Under the health law, young adults can generally stay on their parents’ health plan until they reach age 26. But insurers may send notices informing policyholders, in this case their parents, about services that have been provided.

If they’re older than 18, young adults “have the same privacy rights as other adults, but their situation is complicated because they’re on a plan with someone else who is the policyholder,” said Abigail English, director of the Center for Adolescent Health & the Law.

The health law also requires insurers to cover preventive services without requiring people to pay for them if they’re recommended by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a nonpartisan group of medical experts that makes determinations based on scientific evidence of benefits and harms. But men are at a disadvantage in some instances.

In Florida and many other states, you are required by law to tell your partner you have a sexually transmitted disease before having intercourse. But as the Miami Herald reports, that law has been interpreted differently by Florida appellate courts (paywall alert).

Tallahassee is one of the most educated cities in the country. That’s according to the site, WalletHub. And the national association of counties recently named Leon as one of the best when it comes to management. But when it comes to health, the city and county fall far down the list.